Grand Canyon National Park

Visit Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizonal and experience the deepest and largest volume canyon on earth. You simply won't belive the canyon's immense size until you get right up there and look at it.

With more than twice the land area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Grand Canyon is more than 1 million acreas in size.

The Colorado river is the main source that has carved out the mighty canyon over the millenia. The canyon averages a 4,000 foot depth along it's 277 mile length and is an amazing 6,000 feet deep at its deepest point.

It is truly amazing to stand on the rim of Grand Canyon and behold its immense size. It is a huge gash cut into the crust of the earth and it takes your breath away the first time you lay your eyes on it.

The canyon gets heavy visitor traffic most of the year so you must plan ahead if you intend on staying in any of the lodges, camping, seeking backcountry permits, taking mule trips and other activities. If you are planning to visit just for the day you should arrive early becuse there is only a little parking available.

Let's get serious about Grand Canyon for a minute. If you plan on hiking in the canyon it is vitally important to know that more than 250 people need to be rescued out of the canyon every year because they don't follow a simple rule. That rule is, what goes down, must come up! In the canyon, unlike most other places you hike, you hike down first, then hike backup. Got that? Your return hike to your origination point is up rather than down as when you hike into the mountains.

The return trip is where people get into trouble because they don't have any energy left when they realize how easy it was to hike down, but now the hike up is much more strenuous. Don't get yourself into this situation. Belive it or not, men in their 20's are the canyon's most rescued victims. Don't over do it and remember to be prepared with lots of water and a little exercise in the months before you hike in Grand Canyon if you aren't an avid hiker.

The canyon offers lots of activities such as whitewater rafting in the mighty Colorado (pretty intense rafting so be prepared), riding horses, toruing the rim via car, cross country skiing in the winter, fishing and camping in the summer and lots more.